NORMALIZATION

o Normalization is the process of organizing the data in the database.

o Normalization is used to minimize the redundancy from a relation or set of relations. It is also used
to eliminate undesirable characteristics like Insertion, Update, and Deletion Anomalies(Errors).
o Normalization divides the larger table into smaller and links them using relationships.
o The normal form is used to reduce redundancy from the database table.

The main reason for normalizing the relations is removing these anomalies. Failure to eliminate
anomalies leads to data redundancy and can cause data integrity and other problems as the
database grows. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that helps to guide you in
creating a good database structure.

Advantages of Normalization

o Normalization helps to minimize data redundancy.

o Greater overall database organization.
o Data consistency within the database.
o Much more flexible database design.
o Enforces the concept of relational integrity.

First Normal Form (1NF)

o A relation will be 1NF if it contains an atomic value.
o It states that an attribute of a table cannot hold multiple values. It must hold only single-valued
attribute.
o First normal form disallows the multi-valued attribute, composite attribute, and their combinations.
Example: Relation EMPLOYEE is not in 1NF because of multi-valued attribute EMP_PHONE

EMPLOYEE table:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_PHONE EMP_STATE

7272826385,
14 John UP
9064738238

20 Harry 8574783832 Bihar

7390372389,
12 Sam Punjab
8589830302

The decomposition of the EMPLOYEE table into 1NF has been shown below:
EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_PHONE EMP_STATE

14 John 7272826385 UP

14 John 9064738238 UP
20 Harry 8574783832 Bihar

12 Sam 7390372389 Punjab

12 Sam 8589830302 Punjab

.

Second Normal Form (2NF)

o In the 2NF, relational must be in 1NF.
o In the second normal form, all non-key attributes are fully functional dependent on the primary key
Example: Let's assume, a school can store the data of teachers and the subjects they teach. In a school, a teacher
can teach more than one subject.

TEACHER table

TEACHER_ID SUBJECT TEACHER_AGE

25 Chemistry 30

25 Biology 30

47 English 35

83 Math 38

83 Computer 38
In the given table, non-prime attribute TEACHER_AGE is dependent on TEACHER_ID which is a proper subset of a
candidate key. That's why it violates the rule for 2NF.
To convert the given table into 2NF, we decompose it into two tables:

TEACHER_DETAIL table: TEACHER_SUBJECT table:

TEACHER_ID TEACHER_AGE TEACHER_ID SUBJECT

25 30 25 Chemistry
47 35
25 Biology
83 38
47 English

83 Math

83 Computers
Third Normal Form (3NF)
o A relation will be in 3NF if it is in 2NF and not contain any transitive partial dependency.
o 3NF is used to reduce the data duplication. It is also used to achieve the data integrity.
o If there is no transitive dependency for non-prime attributes, then the relation must be in third normal
form.
A relation is in third normal form if it holds atleast one of the following conditions for every non-trivial function
dependency X → Y.

1. X is a super key.
2. Y is a prime attribute, i.e., each element of Y is part of some candidate key.

Example:

EMPLOYEE_DETAIL table:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_ZIP EMP_STATE EMP_CITY

222 Harry 201010 UP Noida

333 Stephan 02228 US Boston

444 Lan 60007 US Chicago

555 Katharine 06389 UK Norwich

666 John 462007 MP Bhopal

Super key in the table above:

1. {EMP_ID}, {EMP_ID, EMP_NAME}, {EMP_ID, EMP_NAME, EMP_ZIP}....so on

Candidate key: {EMP_ID}

Non-prime attributes: In the given table, all attributes except EMP_ID are non-prime.

Here, EMP_STATE & EMP_CITY dependent on EMP_ZIP and EMP_ZIP dependent on EMP_ID. The non-
prime attributes (EMP_STATE, EMP_CITY) transitively dependent on super key(EMP_ID). It violates the rule
of third normal form.

That's why we need to move the EMP_CITY and EMP_STATE to the new <EMPLOYEE_ZIP> table, with
EMP_ZIP as a Primary key.

EMPLOYEE table: EMPLOYEE_ZIP table:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_ZIP EMP_ZIP EMP_STATE EMP_CITY

222 Harry 201010 201010 UP Noida

 333 Stephan 02228 02228 US Boston

444 Lan 60007 60007 US Chicago

555 Katharine 06389 06389 UK Norwich

462007 MP Bhopal
666 John 462007

Boyce Codd normal form (BCNF)

o BCNF is the advance version of 3NF. It is stricter than 3NF.
o A table is in BCNF if every functional dependency X → Y, X is the super key of the table.
o For BCNF, the table should be in 3NF, and for every FD, LHS is super key.
Example: Let's assume there is a company where employees work in more than one department.

EMPLOYEE table:

EMP_ID EMP_COUNTRY EMP_DEPT DEPT_TYPE EMP_DEPT_NO

264 India Designing D394 283

264 India Testing D394 300

364 UK Stores D283 232

364 UK Developing D283 549

In the above table Functional dependencies are as follows:

1. EMP_ID → EMP_COUNTRY
2. EMP_DEPT → {DEPT_TYPE, EMP_DEPT_NO}
Candidate key: {EMP-ID, EMP-DEPT}

The table is not in BCNF because neither EMP_DEPT nor EMP_ID alone are keys.

To convert the given table into BCNF, we decompose it into three tables:

EMP_COUNTRY table: EMP_DEPT table: EMP_DEPT_MAPPING table:

EMP EMP_COUNTRY EMP_DE DEPT_TY EMP_DEPT EMP_ID EMP_DEPT

_ID PT PE _NO
D394 283
264 India Designing D394 283
D394 300
264 India Testing D394 300
D283 232
Stores D283 232
D283 549
Developin
D283 549
g
 Functional dependencies:
1. EMP_ID → EMP_COUNTRY
2. EMP_DEPT → {DEPT_TYPE, EMP_DEPT_NO}
Candidate keys:

For the first table: EMP_ID

For the second table: EMP_DEPT
For the third table: {EMP_ID, EMP_DEPT}
Now, this is in BCNF because left side part of both the functional dependencies is a key.

Fourth normal form (4NF)

o A relation will be in 4NF if it is in Boyce Codd normal form and has no multi-valued dependency.
o For a dependency A → B, if for a single value of A, multiple values of B exists, then the relation will
be a multi-valued dependency.

Example
STUDENT

STU_ID COURSE HOBBY

21 Computer Dancing

21 Math Singing

34 Chemistry Dancing

74 Biology Cricket

59 Physics Hockey

The given STUDENT table is in 3NF, but the COURSE and HOBBY are two independent entity. Hence, there is no
relationship between COURSE and HOBBY.
In the STUDENT relation, a student with STU_ID, 21 contains two courses, Computer and Math and two
hobbies, Dancing and Singing. So there is a Multi-valued dependency on STU_ID, which leads to unnecessary
repetition of data.

So to make the above table into 4NF, we can decompose it into two tables:

STUDENT_COURSE STUDENT_HOBBY
STU_ID COURSE STU_ID HOBBY

21 Computer 21 Dancing

21 Math 21 Singing

34 Chemistry 34 Dancing

74 Biology 74 Cricket

59 Physics 59 Hockey
Fifth normal form (5NF)
o A relation is in 5NF if it is in 4NF and not contains any join dependency and joining should be
lossless.
o 5NF is satisfied when all the tables are broken into as many tables as possible in order to avoid
redundancy.
o 5NF is also known as Project-join normal form (PJ/NF).

Example
SUBJECT LECTURER SEMESTER

Computer Anshika Semester 1

Computer John Semester 1

Math John Semester 1

Math Akash Semester 2

Chemistry Praveen Semester 1

In the above table, John takes both Computer and Math class for Semester 1 but he doesn't take Math class for Semester 2. In this
case, combination of all these fields required to identify a valid data.
Suppose we add a new Semester as Semester 3 but do not know about the subject and who will be taking that subject so we leave
Lecturer and Subject as NULL. But all three columns together acts as a primary key, so we can't leave other two columns blank.

So to make the above table into 5NF, we can decompose it into three relations P1, P2 & P3:

P1 P2 P3

SEMESTER SUBJECT SUBJECT LECTURER SEMSTER LECTURER

Semester 1 Computer Computer Anshika Semester 1 Anshika

Semester 1 Math Computer John Semester 1 John

Semester 1 Chemistry Math John Semester 1 John

Semester 2 Math Math Akash Semester 2 Akash

Chemistry Praveen Semester 1 Praveen